Ancestry sharing links again

Question

These days when I attempt to share an Ancestry image the link generated is something like

https://www.ancestry.com.au/sharing/1122645?mark=5575cfc3d95bede006eb858c054d89d6b60a68fff783b047ce8ca51049624168

whereas previously I got things like

https://www.ancestry.com.au/sharing/26853585?h=93a524

The problem with the new links is that the image is shown at a fixed size and is not zoomable. It is very likely to be illegible at that size, making the link fairly useless for people who are not ancestry members.

Nevertheless, it is possible for people who are not ancestry members to view the image at a larger size. If one opens the image in a new tab the image url is something very long ending with &maxWidth=520

Changing 520 to something suitably bigger fixes the problem. Better still, delete &maxwidth=520 altogether, and the image will come through at its correct size. This is still of little practical use, since very few people would think of doing this. If anyone can think of a solution to this problem, I would be grateful.

Comments

Maybe.  This is a new device, and I have yet to work out all the kinks.  

---

After 1 day the security token hasn't expired, and clicking the ancestry sharing link again regenerates exactly the same security token. So I will assume that these tokens do not expire, and in future I will augment my links to ancestry sharing pages with an extra link to the high resolution image. See e.g. Coulshaw-1.

---

This looks good, Bob. Thanks for the Coulshaw-1 example.

The only thing I would suggest is that you also include Ancestry Record templates and the full information from the Ancestry record. See here.

---

I consider that my profiles are not intended for ancestry members, but for anyone (particularly people new to family history). So I don't like links that take non-ancestry members to a page that says "Join Ancestry". I prefer to just have the sharing link. It is great that Ancestry provide the sharing feature, since images of the original record are very likely to contain more information than transcriptions provide, and give the viewer the chance to see if they agree with the transcription.

---

Nonetheless setting out the data in text form provides insurance against Ancestry retrospectively cancelling the sharing links, and additionally helps people using screen readers for whom an image without alt-text gives no information at all. The Ancestry sharing link does not give the original source of the data, which is a requirement of the WikiTree policy.

---

Yes, I agree that I really ought to give the original source of the data, which for these Coulshaw-1 examples are presumably some parish registers held by the West Yorkshire archives. But I don't see an easy way to get the precise archives reference for the register containing the information.

---

Here is how I would cite William Coulshaw's baptism reference, giving source, data and link for subscribers. Your two image links could be added to this.

<ref>West Yorkshire Archive Service; Wakefield, Yorkshire, England; Yorkshire Parish Records; New Reference Number: WDP44/1/1. Via Ancestry.com. William Coulshaw. Baptised 6 September 1747 at Horsforth, St Margaret, Yorkshire, England. Father: Robert Coulshaw. {{Ancestry Record|2256|10414672}}. Retrieved 15 January 2023.</ref>

---

"New Reference Number: WDP44/1/1" here comes from the Source Citation in the Source pane on the Ancestry record. Bob has pointed out to me that Ancestry has this wrong: the correct West Yorkshire Archive Service catalogue finding number is RDP43, with LDR2120/1/2 position 4 as another identifier.

---

Hi Bob, I just came across this post as I have been fretting about this too, so thank you for sharing. I do include a full reference citation too, but was always taught to view an image not just rely on a transcript or index if possible. And being able to use the same ancestry sharing link across say all members of a family on one census, plus a note to say that the image contains all, is a lot quicker to add to ten profiles than seperate sharing links would be.

I wonder if the guidance you have laid out is worth adding to the ancestry sharing link page https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Links_to_Ancestry to help all wikitree users?

Thanks

---

That may be a good idea, but I don't know who could do it.